breaking news tonight the major move by
president biden to tackle the nationwide
baby formula shortage the president
invoking the defense production act
usually reserved for times of war to
boost the country's supply
after the shortage left multiple infants
hospitalized the surgeon general on the
push to get formula back on shelves also
tonight the pennsylvania gop senate
primary too close to call dr mehmet oz
endorsed by president trump possibly
headed for a recount while another trump
pick north carolina scandal plagued
madison hawthorne loses his seat
chilling new details in the buffalo
supermarket shooting the employee who
says she kicked out the suspect the day
before
and the 9-1-1 dispatcher accused of
hanging up as the shooting unfolded news
on covid the cdc now saying a third of
all americans live in high-risk areas
urging them to wear masks indoors as
daily cases triple in a month
in ukraine the russian soldier pleading
guilty in the first war crimes trial
since the invasion began the dow
plunging more than a thousand points the
worst drop for stocks in nearly two
years
this is nbc nightly news with lester
holt
good evening everyone with many american
families bordering on desperation in
their search for baby formula the white
house has just announced a major step to
increase formula availability invoking
the defense production act that will
prioritize manufacturing resources and
ingredients for formula production it
comes as a network of milk banks reports
a 20
increase in demand for donated milk but
tonight some parents are pursuing their
own alternatives in some cases leading
to trips to the hospital our kate snow
is here with late details first of all
what are you learning about the white
house's move tonight so this is the
biden administration as you say
announcing that it will push private
industry to ramp up production of baby
formula and they're also launching
operation fly formula using defense
department aircraft should bring in
formula from other quick other countries
more quickly
invoking the defense production act
allows the president to direct private
companies to produce more baby formula
and i've directed my team to do
everything possible to ensure there's
enough safe baby formula and that is
quickly reaching families that need it
the most we want to pursue every avenue
possible to get formula back on shelves
for parents that is our goal you know
again we come at this not just as public
servants but his parents and
grandparents the baby formula shortage
has gotten so severe it's now leading to
hospitalizations
11 week old khloe is doing better today
after gastrointestinal surgery on monday
born with allergies to dairy and soy her
parents couldn't find a special amino
acid based formula she needed nowhere in
stores um we looked everywhere even
places that said they would have it like
a cvs that was 45 minutes from our house
we called them we went there you know
three weeks ago mom savannah wheatley
posted a desperate plea on facebook you
wrote plea for formula i'm trying to
keep khloe out of the hospital we're
desperate we had tried everything for
her
um
sorry
um
we need to have her on the most
hypoallergenic formula to see like if
this will indeed help her to keep us out
of the hospital
their dietitian at medical university of
south carolina children's health says
khloe is one of at least four babies
here in part because of the formula
shortage there was a family who
tried to make homemade baby formula and
did
have to go to the
pediatric icu
due to having some that formula
providing not enough of what a baby
needed google searches in the u.s for
homemade baby formula are up 250 percent
over the last week recipes are
circulating on youtube we do not
recommend that parents make their own
formula it's not just in south carolina
this is a crisis for us in health care
at le bonner children's hospital in
tennessee a preschooler and toddler with
special dietary needs were hospitalized
after their parents couldn't find the
formula they normally take you have
several weeks of stock
more now out
for the special formulas the house
tonight expected to vote on a bill that
would allow families receiving
government support called wic the
flexibility to buy any brand of formula
by one estimate up to 68 percent of all
infant formula sold in the us is
purchased through wic but there's still
confusion and stores with no supply the
white house sharply criticized today by
members of its own party i give
everybody an f on the entire spectrum of
this from the company itself to the fda
oversight to the interagencies who
didn't talk to each other to the entire
problem nobody focused on this like they
needed to people should also know is
that when the president on down everyone
is laser focused on addressing this
issue and pulling every lever possible
to do so that's why we are working now
to import formula from abroad to get
manufacturers to increase production
here to get the plank plant that was
actually shut down back online quickly
okay there's some breaking news here
tonight the senate wants to investigate
the company whose plant had to shut down
more or less triggering this crisis
that's right the senate finance
committee lester the chairman asking the
formula manufacturer abbott for
information on its tax practices
conditions at that plant before it
closed and eight billion dollars in
stock buybacks the company has
authorized since 2019 and tomorrow
lester the fda commissioner will be on
capitol hill sure to take some tough
questions all right kate thanks very
much i want to turn off i can to kristen
welker at the white house kristen let's
go back to this defense production act
decision we've seen it use that to
deliver covid supplies how will the
biden administration use it this time
well lester that's right in this case
the president will direct manufacturers
to prioritize key ingredients that are
used to make baby formula so that
suppliers can increase production as
quickly as possible now as for those
flights that kate mentioned to get baby
formula from other countries i am told
they could start within days the
administration has been under enormous
pressure to take these steps to address
the baby formula crisis particularly
with the critical midterm elections
looming and overnight there were several
key races with a cliffhanger in
pennsylvania
tonight the trump effect on full display
in battleground pennsylvania where
they're still counting votes in the
republican senate primary
[Applause]
trump-backed celebrity dr mehmet oz has
a razor thin lead over former hedge fund
manager david mccormick who also
embraced the maga movement the race is
still too close to call dr oz lavishing
praise on mr trump overnight god bless
you sir for putting so much effort into
this race i will make you proud a late
surge by conservative commentator kathy
barnett another trump supporter who
attended the january 6 stopped the steel
rally coming up short the winner of the
race will face off against the
democratic nominee progressive
lieutenant governor john fetterman who's
recovering from a stroke late today mr
trump saying on social media dr oz
should declare victory it makes it much
harder for them to cheat with the
ballots that they just happened to find
trump offering no evidence to back that
up the former president falsely declared
victory on election night in 2020 a race
he ultimately lost frankly we did win
this election overall it was a mixed
night for mr trump and candidates who he
endorsed who also supported his
so-called stop the steal efforts some
were victorious like state senator doug
mastriano who won the gop nod for
governor in pennsylvania and north
carolina congressman ted budd who beat
out former governor pat mccrory for the
gop senate nomination friends i want to
thank president donald j
trump bud was among the house members
who voted against certifying the 2020
election but in idaho republican
governor brad little beat out
trump-backed lieutenant governor janice
mcgehen who claimed trump won the 2020
election and has called for audits of
every state's voter rolls
and the former president's endorsement
wasn't enough to secure a victory for
pro-trump firebrand congressman madison
cawthorne who lost after being besieged
by scandals kristen welker nbc news the
white house now to alarming developments
in the covid pandemic the cdc now saying
a third of americans live in high risk
areas and is urging them to mask up
indoors regardless of local rules the
cdc also says daily covet cases have
tripled in the last month and
hospitalizations are up nearly 20
percent in the last week and health and
human services secretary javier becerra
has tested positive on a trip to germany
his office says becerra is fully
vaccinated and boosted and has mild
symptoms
also tonight new details in the buffalo
mass shooting revealing more about the
suspect's behavior leading up to the
rampage and a 911 dispatcher on leave
accused of hanging up on a store
employee as the shooting unfolded emily
ikeda is in buffalo for us
tonight another top store employee
describing a chilling encounter with the
18 year old suspect the day before the
shooting police saying he planned his
hate fueled rampage for months i had met
him in the meat department area asking
could he leave the store that he came be
listening in the store chanel harris
teague telling our buffalo station wgrz
she had no idea she'd see him the next
day too i could still hear the gun
shooting
people screaming people crying jerome
bridges was also inside as i was
barricading the door i heard more
gunshots he kept getting closer and
closer and closer to that back room
people hiding anywhere they could in an
act of desperation one employee calling
for help but she says only to be hung up
on by the 9-1-1 operator why are you
whispering you don't have to whisper and
i'm trying to tell her like ma'am he's
in the store he's shooting and she said
something crazy to me and she hung up in
my face erie county says immediate
action was taken and the individual who
took that call is now on administrative
leave
tonight investigators zeroing in on the
suspect's digital footprint nbc news has
reviewed a series of online rants which
appear to be written by the suspect
including references to the threatening
statement he allegedly made in school
last year for which police sent him to a
mental health evaluation the suspect
writing it lasted just 15 minutes that
he lied and said the threat was a joke
tonight new york's attorney general says
the social media sites the suspect
frequented will now face an
investigation lester emily aquetta thank
you tonight russia's victory in mariupol
appears to be complete with nearly 1 000
more ukrainian soldiers surrendering at
that steel plant this as the first
russian soldier tried for war crimes has
pleaded guilty richard angle is in
ukraine and we have to warn you some of
the images you're about to see are
disturbing
ukrainian rescue crews today saved a
nine-year-old boy after a russian strike
on an apartment building in the eastern
region known as the donbass
russia is now concentrating its military
efforts there after taking over mariopol
this week
but elsewhere russia's war is faltering
again
today the u.s reopened its embassy in
kiev where ukrainian troops drove
russian forces back two months ago
now ukraine is pushing the russians back
from the eastern capital hakeef
in the nearby village of alhofka all
that's left of the russian troops is the
devastation they brought
shockingly some ukrainians stayed here
throughout the battles including nikolai
living in the wreck of his home having
survived on canned food and pickles it
took water
what happened here the russians came and
said they were liberating us he says
next door tatiana a teacher stayed but
not her husband
he took up the russians offer to go to
russia to escape the shelling
tatiana chose her country over her
husband and she's unsure if she'll ever
see him again
do you think you made the right choice
i love my husband but i also love my
land and my country so i stayed
and now investigators have a whole new
region to search for evidence of russian
war crimes
the first russian soldier on trial here
for war crime today pleaded guilty to
killing ukrainian civilian outside of
kiev he faces up to life imprisonment
lester all right richard angle in
ukraine thanks new concerns over soaring
inflation sent the stock market plunging
again today the dow losing more than
1100 points its worst decline in almost
two years the s p was off more than four
percent and the nasdaq almost five
percent the sell-off follows
disappointing earnings from large
retailers hurt by rising costs and
sluggish sales in 60 seconds our
in-depth look at the federal criminal
investigation of hunter biden's taxes
and his work overseas and how the
president's son paid off a two million
dollar tax bill
back now with our investigation into
president biden's son hunter who's
facing that ongoing federal criminal
probe into his finances hallie jackson
with details about how he paid off his
nearly 2 million irs bill and what nbc
news is found so far from a copy of his
hard drive and icloud account
the president's son under growing
scrutiny tonight over his finances with
federal prosecutors in delaware
investigating hunter biden and whether
he broke federal tax law now a
representative for mr biden tells nbc
news his bill from the irs about 2
million dollars has been paid off
two people familiar with the matter say
the money was arranged by one of the
younger biden's new attorneys hollywood
lawyer kevin morris best known for
brokering a deal for the south park tv
show
does paying that tax bill wash away any
liability that hunter biden may have now
paying the tax bill if in fact that's
what he did doesn't undo the crime it
would be like returning money to a bank
that you robbed you still robbed the
bank the president's son and his company
brought in about 11 million dollars
between 2013 and 2018 including some
years in which his father was vice
president working as an attorney a board
member to a ukrainian gas company
accused of bribing a prosecutor and for
a joint venture involving a chinese
businessman now accused of fraud
according to an nbc news analysis of a
copy of biden's hard drive and icloud
account as well as documents released by
a senate committee during the campaign
then candidate joe biden denied his son
profited off a china connection my son
has not made money
in terms of this thing about
what are you talking about china the
records show hunter biden's company
received nearly 5 million dollars in
consulting contracts from that joint
venture funded by a chinese energy
company a snapshot of hunter biden
spending shows that for about five
months in late 2017 and early 2018 he
spent more than 200 thousand dollars a
month on things like luxury hotel rooms
cash withdrawals dental work and
payments on a porsche according to
documents on the hard drive a time
period in which hunter biden has
acknowledged struggling with drug
addiction the immediate focus appears to
be for both the president and hunter
biden is whether or not there'll be any
charges as a result of this federal
criminal investigation hunter biden's
laptop a subject of controversy after
documents recovered from it were brought
to light by the biden's political
opponents with some cyber security
experts at one point in 2020 suggesting
it bore hallmarks of a russian
disinformation campaign since then
several news organizations have
authenticated many emails from the
laptop and nbc news obtained a copy of
the hard drive from a representative for
rudy giuliani the president has defended
his son
and hunter biden has denied any illegal
business dealings i'm cooperating
completely and i am absolutely certain
100 certain that at the end of the
investigation
that i will be cleared of any wrongdoing
experts point out family members of a
president who hold no official job in
the administration are not bound by any
government ethics rules hunter biden
seems a lot like somebody whose primary
profession is being joe biden's son
but unless there's a direct connection
to joe biden that's really more of a
criticism of one private citizen rather
than a government official or an
administration
hunter biden's attorney did not comment
on the record and the white house has
not responded to our request for comment
lester ali thank you that's nightly news
for this wednesday thank you for
watching i'm lester holt please take
care of yourself and each other
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